A New Time
by SalmaBabesz
Summary: Based on Harry Potter's life nineteen years later- after the battle of Hogwarts.
1. Chapter 1

_A New Time_

_Based on the Harry Potter Series_

I do not own Harry Potter or anything you may recognise.

- Chapter One -

_The Letter_

Harry Potter sat on the kitchen table with a piece of paper clutched in his hand, deep in thought. In front of him laid an envelope addressed to him in scruffy writing. The letter read:

_Dear Harry, _

_My eldest daughter received her Hogwarts acceptance letter today. I don't know why I'm telling you this but I just want to apologise for the seventeen years of hell I gave you. If she grows up to be as great as you, I'll be the proudest father ever. Please forgive me._

_Dudley._

He had not seen his cousin Dudley in over nineteen years. The last time he saw him, he was leaving his home in Little Whinging, Surrey, with his magic-hating parents. Another thought occurred to him. Did Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia know about their magical niece? How did they react? Harry wasn't even sure if they were alive or not. Dozens of questions were now running through his mind and yet he didn't have a single answer to any of them. He had spent most of the past month wondering about all these things. What he had to do now was next on his mind.

'Oh Harry, are you still thinking about that letter?' Ginny Potter had just walked into the kitchen.

'What do you think I should do, Ginny?' asked Harry.

'Well,' she stopped and considered for a bit, 'I think you should just talk to him,' and she began preparing dinner.

'W-what? You can't be serious. I mean, I haven't seen the guy in nearly twenty -'

'Do you want to sort this out and get it over and done with or do you want to spend the rest of your life questioning yourself?' Ginny interrupted, holding a saucepan tight in her hand.

'But -'

'No, I didn't think so,' said Ginny, turning her back to Harry, placing the saucepan over the stove. With a flick of her wand, the stove ignited. With another flick, vegetables flew from the worktop and into the saucepan. Harry sat watching her and began to chuckle.

'You always have been able to get your own way. I really do need to learn how to do that.'

Ginny glared at him and turned back to adding ingredients to the saucepan. Harry took a quick glance at the clock and jumped.

'Albus should have arrived at Hogwarts by now, don't you think?' he thought for a moment or two and then continued 'If the letter arrived at the time that it had been written, Dudley's daughter should be in Albus' year. I think I may just ask him if there's a 'Dursley' in his year once I've asked him about the sorting and his experience so far.' Harry leapt to his feet and head towards the door 'I think I might just owl him now,' and he ran out of the kitchen, in the direction of his study.

Harry's study was the room at the end of the corridor on the second floor along with four bedrooms and a bathroom. Downstairs was the kitchen and the living room. The house overall was quite tidy. As Harry entered his study, a large wooden desk with ink, quills and a table lamp faced him. The walls were filled with shelves of books. Scrunched pieces of parchment were scattered across the floor. He quickly sat down, grabbed a piece of parchment lying around and began to write.

_Albus,_

_So, how was the journey to Hogwarts and did you enjoy it? How did the sorting go? You must have been really nervous standing in front of everyone. Well, I hope all is well. I just want to ask something. Whilst at the sorting, was there a 'Dursley' by any chance? Please get to me as soon as you can with a full encounter of your journey. Mum and Lily both say hello by the way._

_Love Dad._

When finished, he walked across to the other side of the room where a small, brown owl was perched in its cage.

'I have a little job for you, Hedwig.' He took Hedwig out of the cage and attached the letter to her leg.

'Take this to Albus and make sure he replies.' Harry paced towards the only window in his study, opened it and let Hedwig go. Closing the window, he made his way back to the kitchen where he could here Ginny call Lily for Dinner.

Harry awoke the next morning to loud laughter coming from downstairs. He got up, got dressed and went down. He entered the living room to find Lily and Ginny sat on the sofa with a letter, giggling. To Harry's relief, Hedwig was settled on Lily's lap.

'Oh dad, just wait until you read Albus' letter,' said Lily, 'it's pretty funny if you think about it,' and she passed the letter to Harry.

'Oh come off it Lily, it wasn't that funny,' said Ginny, grinning broadly, 'you just over exaggerate.'

'That's rich coming from the person who started laughing,' muttered Lily. Ginny glared at her.

'So, can I read the letter now?' interrupted Harry, throwing quick glances at Ginny and Lily. Without waiting for a reply, he began to read.

_Dear Dad,_

_The journey to Hogwarts was awesome, I loved it. James, being the div he is, decided to move to another compartment as soon as the platform was out of sight. Apparently, he didn't want to be seen with a 'loser' so I just sat with Rose. You'll never guess who sat with us. Malfoy! Scorpius Malfoy! At first, it was pretty awkward but then we began to talk. The lunch trolley came, had something to eat and exchanged chocolate frog cards. He wasn't that bad. When it started getting dark, we both changed into our Hogwarts robes as Rose already had hers on. Could you imagine the look on Uncle Ron's face if he found out that me and Rose, especially Rose, were now 'friends' with a Malfoy?_

_When we got off the train, we got to Hogwarts by the boats as you said we would. We're in 2017. You would have thought that we would be taken by something else more modern. The first sight of the castle was just amazing._

_When we got there, we had Professor Thomas show us into the Great Hall. He's the Head of Gryffindor and also the Deputy Head. One by one, students sat on the stool to get sorted as the sorting hat was placed on their heads. Rose was quite difficult by the looks of things. Apparently the sorting hat couldn't decide whether she should be put in Ravenclaw or Gryffindor. Eventually, she was put in Gryffindor. Sounds a bit like Aunt Hermione, don't you think? Well, the same thing happened to me but between Slytherin and Gryffindor. I think the sorting hat did decide to go with where I wanted to be sorted into because eventually I ended up in Gryffindor and to be honest, I didn't really change my mind about not wanting to be in Slytherin. Even Scorpius was put in Gryffindor. I swear his whole family was in Slytherin?_

_After the sorting, it was the feast. It was way better than mums cooking- no offence mum._

_Before I forget, there was a Dursley. Her name was Ellie. She got put in Hufflepuff. She's lucky because she has Neville as her head of house. Speaking of "Professor" Neville, James is refusing to give him mums love and I don't think he will. It's a shame Lily isn't here, she's missing out on so much. Tell both of them I say hello and not to miss me too much. Rose sends her love._

_Love, Albus_

The smile Harry had when he began to read the letter had faded. His main concern now was Dudley's daughter.

'So,' said Ginny, breaking the silence, 'are you going to go visit him? Or at least write to him?'

'Well,' Harry stopped for a moment, 'just because she's a Dursley, it doesn't mean she's Dudley's daughter-'

'Just stop with the excuses, Harry. You have to accept the truth sooner or later.'

Ginny was right. Harry couldn't hide from this forever. He thought to himself that after all these years, he would have been done with hiding from people.

'Hmph, I'm going to get some breakfast then go to work,' Harry said after a while and head towards the kitchen.


	2. Chapter 2

- Chapter Two -

_The Auror Office_

Once Harry ate breakfast, he returned to the living room where Ginny and Lily were still sat, kissed them both goodbye and made his way to the fireplace which was at the far end of the room. He took a pinch of the glittering floo powder out of a nearby pot, stepped up to the fire and threw the powder into the flames. With quite a loud roar, the fire turned emerald green and rose higher than Harry himself. Harry stepped right into it, clearly shouted the words 'Ministry of Magic', and he was gone.

He felt like he was being sucked down a giant plug hole. Everything was moving quite fast. Squinting through his glasses, Harry saw a blurred stream of fireplaces and snatched glimpses of the rooms beyond. The speed of travel was too great. The experience always reminded him of the first time he used the floo network. Nothing surprised him much as he was quite used to it. After what seemed a minute, he emerged out of a fireplace into the Ministry of Magic.

He got himself together and began to walk. The great Atrium was no different to the way he first saw it. The dark wood floor was highly polished as ever throughout the glorious hall. The peacock-blue ceiling which was inlaid with gleaming golden symbols remained intact, continuously moving and changing as it had done twenty-two years ago. The golden statue of the wizard, witch, centaur, goblin and house-elf stood in the middle of the circular pool half way down the hall of the Atrium. As he approached the set of lifts, a small beaded man joined him.

'Hello, Harry. What's troubling you today?'

Harry was standing in front of the golden bars, lost in thought.

'Erm, Harry,' said the small man, tugging him at his shoulder. Harry quickly turned around to see him eyeing him closely.

'Oh good morning, Pete,' said Harry, stepping back. As he did so, the golden grilles opened. Hastily, he shuffled into the lift, Pete behind him.

'You were saying, Pete?' asked Harry, as the lift departed.

'I was just asking what was troubling you. You seemed quite bothered,'

'Oh, it's nothing to worry about-'

'Don't give me that, Potter. I've known you long enough to know that there's something wrong but you're just hiding it,' Pete interrupted.

'Honestly, it's nothing important,-'

"Level Three, Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, including the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad, Obliviator Headquarters and Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee." Once again, Harry was interrupted, this time by a cool female voice.

'Well, this is my stop. See you later, Harry,' and Pete was off. The lift departed once again and came to a halt.

"Level Two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including the Improper Use of Magic Office, Auror Headquarters and Wizengamot Administration Services." Feeling quite relieved, Harry stepped out into the corridor lined with doors and began to walk. He turned a corner and approached a pair of heavy oak doors, entering to see a cluttered open area divided into cubicles. A sign on the nearest cubicle read: _Auror Headquarters._

The cubicles were covered in newspaper articles, maps, and posters of Quidditch teams and even photos of families. Once again, things were the same way they had been twenty-two years ago.

Picking up his pace, Harry made his way to the last cubicle which was fairly big compared to the others. It was mostly covered in moving photos of family and friends. Snippets of the Daily Prophet, posters of Quidditch teams and a map of the world were squeezed in. The office compartment consisted of a desk, a chair and a filing cabinet. Purple pieces of parchment sat on the table in a neat pile. As he sat down, the cubicle door burst open, revealing a rather tall man with fiery-red hair, slightly balding, freckles and blue eyes. He closed the door, conjured a chair and sat down, a little out of breath.

'Hey Harry,' said Ronald Weasley, checking the time.

'Hey Ron,' mumbled Harry.

'What's wrong with you?'

Looking up for the first time, Harry replied, 'Dudley.'

'Are you still worrying about that letter?'

'There's more to it,' and he began explaining about Dudley's daughter, referring back to Albus' letter. When he finished, Ron sat in his chair lost for words.

'Well we can't be one hundred percent sure that it's Dudley's daughter,' began Ron, 'I mean-'

'Trust me, I thought the same, but it makes sense if you think about it. And Dudley wouldn't make a joke about something like this anyway. He's a bit too old for that.'

'But Harry, think about it this way- The guy hated you. He bullied you for seventeen years and all of a sudden he's best friends with you? There's something really fishy... It just doesn't seem right.'

'Hmm. I need to tell Hermione. How is she anyway?'

'Oh she's good. She'll be here soon so maybe you can tell her when she comes.'

'Yeah, I will,' said Harry, sighing. After an odd minute of silence, he continued, 'Should we go and continue with the auror training?'

'Maybe we should start with concealment and disguise today,' recommended Ron.

'That's probably the easiest so we might as well. Did Ted show up?'

'Yeah, he's waiting with the rest of those in training. This should be a breeze for him. But then again most of the others managed to scrape an O in potions.'

'Let's just hope this year's better than last year and we don't have potions exploding everywhere.'

'_Evanesco _and _scourgify _did the trick though,' chuckled Ron.  
'I don't know why you're laughing. Me, Hermione and Ginny had to clear up while you just sat there,' said Harry, rolling his eyes.

'That's exactly why I'm laughing,' mumbled Ron, continuing to chuckle.

Without taking any notice, Harry got up and strolled towards the door.

'We should get started,' suggested Harry, 'this may take a long time.'

'Yes, we should,' said Ron, standing up. He took his wand out, vanished the chair and followed Harry out of the cubicle.


	3. Chapter 3

- Chapter Three -

_Concealment and Disguise_

Harry and Ron both made their way into a room at the far end of the auror office. As they entered, they found ten young people waiting for them, dressed in dark robes. The room was fairly large and quite empty, much like an assembly hall. Right at the far end stood a desk with three chairs, three piles of parchment and three quills, each with an ink pot, neatly laid down. Ron head towards one of the chairs and took a seat while Harry stood in front of the desk, ready to speak.

'Today we'll be focusing on concealment and disguise. All of you have the necessary OWL and NEWT grades required so you should all be able to get top marks. Some of you, I believe, have other abilities and even other magical garments and possessions.'

As he said this, there was a moment of whispers amongst the young people.

'We will be mainly assessing you,' and silence fell as soon as he spoke out again, 'on speed and how affective your chosen method is. Marks will be given out to those who manage to conceal and disguise themselves quickly without their opponent realising. Marks will also be given for how strong your method is, how long it will last and how affective it is. Fully qualified aurors will soon be joining us and will act the role of the enemy. If you have any questions, please ask now before we begin.'

A few hands shot in the air.

'Name?' asked Harry, jerking his head towards a tall, slim man, standing at the front of the group.

'Smith, sir. Kurt Smith,' said Kurt. His voice was quite deep but intimidating at the same time.

'I was wondering, how long do we each have to complete the practical section of concealment and disguise?' As he said so, most of the hands went back down, leaving only the arm of a young woman at the back still raised.

'I would say around half an hour to forty five minutes should be enough,' answered Harry. He nodded his head to the young woman at the back who still had her arm raised.

'And you are?' he asked as she dropped her arm back down. She moved a bit forward till she was in sight. She was short and had brown bushy hair, much like Hermione.

'Trigg. Emily Trigg,' she answered. She had a rather strong voice and seemed quite enthusiastic. 'I just wanted to know what the theory section of concealment and disguise consists of, if that's all right.'

A few people were slightly taken back by such a request.

'All details will be given at the end,' Harry replied. Taking no notice of the reaction given, he continued, 'If that is all for now, I think it'll be best if we begin,' and he turned around to take a seat. The door flew open as soon as he did so, and a bunch of wizards and witches dressed crimson robes walked in, their faces covered, followed by a slim woman who had brown hair, tied back in a neat plait. As the wizards and witches took their place at the back of the room, Hermione Weasley was more visible. She was dressed in a formal suit and could almost be classed as a muggle if she was unknown. She paced towards the table and took the remaining seat at the table next to Ron.

'I'm glad you could make it,' whispered Harry to Hermione as she got herself settled.

'Oh it was no trouble. I'm sorry that I'm late, it looks like I haven't missed anything though,' she said, as she looked at the aurors who were in conversation amongst themselves.

'Don't worry about it; I've only done a brief introduction. I need to talk to you when we've finished, by the way,' said Harry. Hermione had understood what Harry meant as she nodded, knowing what was coming. Harry turned back and examined the top of the piece of parchment in front of him. After a while he called out, 'Ted Remus Lupin,' and silence fell.

A tall, skinny man stepped forward. He had brown scruffy hair cut short and blue eyes. He resembled his father, Remus Lupin, quite a lot but there was still a bit of Nymphadora in him.

'According to my records,' began Harry, 'you got an O in Defence against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration and Charms and EE in potions in your N.E.W.T.s which is acceptable. You're also a metamorphmagus, I believe, and you own an invisibility cloak. Am I correct?'

Many people were left surprised, and once again, there were murmurs amongst them. The only people who didn't find the news shocking were Harry, Ron and Hermione. Ted himself had now turned a shade of pink, quite embarrassed by everyone's reaction. Looking down at his feet with his arms behind his back, he mumbled, 'Erm, yes,' and began to sway on the spot.

'Well, show us what you've got,' said Harry, gesturing towards the empty space. Once again, quiet fell, as if there was no one in the room. Everyone's eyes were now fixed on Ted in wonder of what he will do.

He straightened up and cleared his throat, as if ready to make a speech.

'I'm first going to begin with a few different disguises. As you all now know, I'm not very good at potions so I won't be using any today. As you also know, I'm a metamorphmagus, so I'll be using that skill instead.'

He screwed up his eyes in a strained expression as though he was struggling to remember something. A second later, his hair had turned dirty-blond with strands of grey, growing a bit longer, changing from scruffy to curly. He began to shrink and seemed to have put on weight. His face grew longer and so did the hair that covered his cheeks and chin. His eyes slightly widened and his skin became sagged. Now standing before everyone was an unknown man who looked like he was in his forties.

The door flew open and a tall black wizard who was broad shouldered walked in. He was bold and wore a single gold hoop earring.

'Hello, Minister. Didn't know you'd be joining us today,' said Harry, rather surprised.

'Not to worry, I won't be staying anyway; just passing through.' Kingsley Shacklebolt spoke with slow deep voice which had a tone of reassurance. He examined the room and his eyes stopped at Ted.

'Who's your friend here, Harry? He doesn't look familiar,' said Kingsley, arching an eyebrow. Ted stepped forward and cleared his throat.

'John Smith, Minister. I'm just in to have a quick word with Harry.'

A few people began to chuckle and Kingsley suddenly looked rather curious. He looked around the room one more time and then back at Ted with a smirk on his face.

'Well John, it was nice meeting you but I must be getting off now,' and he turned to face the table, 'I'll speak to all three of you soon,' and he made his way to the door and left. Once the door shut, Ron burst out laughing.

'John Smith? Really?'

'Stop being such an arse, Ronald,' said Hermione and she stepped on his foot, 'I think it was a good disguise Ted,' she reassured him.

'It's a shame he didn't believe it though,' added Harry and Hermione was slightly taken back. 'Don't get me wrong, it was a good disguise, but he realised you weren't in the room when he knew you had shown up. Didn't you see the smirk on his face?'

'Harry's got a point Hermione. Plus, it was worth a shot. He didn't make out it was me straight away so I could have got away with it. And thanks for being so supportive, Ron,' said Ted with a smile on his face. Everyone was surprised in the way he was addressed the three. Harry noticed the way everyone was staring and quickly added, 'Shall we continue?'


	4. Chapter 4

- Chapter Four -

_Harry's Reply_

One by one, all the aurors in training completed the concealment and disguise practical section and were given their theory assignment which was to be completed by the following week.

Once everyone left, Harry, Ron and Hermione were left in the room alone, leaving Harry able to explain everything about Dudley's daughter to Hermione.

'Just write back to him and arrange to meet up or something,' Hermione said simply. 'How bad can things go?'

'Err, really bad?' interrupted Ron.

'Come off it Ron. Why do you have to be so negative? Dudley may have changed for all you know. People tend to change when the get older!'

'Oh is that so.'

'Well you clearly haven't,' shrieked Hermione, dropping a hard back book on the table. Harry just stood between them, eyeing them both, one after the other.

'You're both acting like you're fifteen again,' said Harry, without even thinking. Once he realised what he said, he mumbled, 'oops,' and turned away.

'No, Harry, you're right. We are acting a bit childish. So, erm, the letter. As I said, just write back to him and maybe plan on seeing each other. Me and Ron wouldn't mind coming, if you want,' said Hermione said, slightly blushing.

'Wouldn't we?' asked Ron, a horrified expression upon his face. As he caught Hermione's eye, he quickly whispered, 'Oh yeah, sure,' and put his head down.

'You don't have to but I would appreciate it if you did. Plus, I'm sure Dudley would like to meet you.'

As Harry said this, Ron let out a little cough and Hermione shot him a look of annoyance.

'Don't worry, we'll be there,' Hermione assured Harry, leaving him slightly relieved.

'I'll owl him when I get home then. I just hope I'm doing the right thing-'

'Harry, I'm sure you are,' said Hermione in nothing but a whisper. After an odd silence, Harry eventually spoke.

'I'm happy there weren't any exploding potions this time,' and they all buried themselves in laughter.

'So you've finally decided to write back. You should have just listened to me in the first place. I mean, it wasn't even a hard decision to make. I don't know why you were so stressed out-'

'OK thanks Ginny, I get the point,' interrupted Harry.

'Just trying to get the point across,' said Ginny in a final tone.

'Thanks. I appreciate it. I'm probably going to start on the letter now and get it over and done with,' and he left the room.

As he got there, he sat down, took a piece of parchment and a quill and placed them on the table. He hesitated for a bit and then began, not even sure about what he was going to write.

_Dudley,_

_Well to be honest I don't even know where to start. If you were expecting a reply, I'm sorry it's late. It's just that your letter came as quite a shock to me. I never would have expected it. I think it's best if we meet some time. I was wondering if you would maybe like to come to mine for dinner. Get back to me soon._

_Harry._

He attached the letter to Hedwig's leg and let her go. He then suddenly remembered that he didn't reply back to Albus and ran back to the room Ginny was in.

'By any chance, did you reply to Albus?'

'As a matter of fact, yes, I did. I knew how busy and _stressed _you were so I did it for you. No need to thank me,' she shrugged. She seemed to have put emphasis on the word "stressed", 'We should get a reply from both of them by tomorrow, hopefully.'

'You really are a star,' said Harry, as he pecked her on the cheek.

September flew by in a breeze and it was soon October. Harry still didn't receive a reply from Dudley and was quite frustrated. He was still in contact with Albus who was enjoying his time at Hogwarts. Every once in a while, Harry would ask about Ellie Dursley but Albus would give the same reply;

'I don't see much of her other than in the Great Hall when she's with her friends.'

'Maybe he's just nervous,' Hermione kept saying.

'You can't exactly accuse him of lying to you when there's proof that his daughter's at Hogwarts.'

As time passed, Harry was more reluctant to believing Ron- that the whole letter was a joke. After all, as he said before, he couldn't be sure if Ellie was actually Dudley's daughter. This left Ron quite happy.

Ginny on the other hand decided to stay out of it and thought it was best if she didn't get involved seeming as Harry didn't bother listening to her.

He made his way to the fireplace and travelled to the Ministry of Magic, going through the feeling of being sucked through a tube again. Once he got there, he made his way to his office. When he got in, he rushed towards the table and recognised an envelope on his desk with his name scribbled across it.

He quickly sat down and reached out for it. He opened it and began to read.

_Harry,_

_I'm so sorry my reply is late. I'm not too familiar on owls so I just used normal post. Unfortunately, the Post Office was on strike, making it impossible for me to send it. My wife then showed me how to use it. And I'd love to come to have dinner. It would be an honour to meet your friends and family. Just 'owl' me a suitable day and time, including your address._

_Dudley._

Harry paused. So Dudley had been telling the truth in the first letter. Harry had underestimated him so much. And he wouldn't mind coming round and meeting Harry's friends and family? Surely this was some sign that he had changed. His wife. His wife showed him how to use an owl. Is she a witch? Is that why his attitude towards Harry has changed? But Dudley's attitude changed many years ago, when Harry saved his life in the alley back in Little Whinging. So why now? Why has Dudley decided to get in contact with him now? Is it because of Ellie receiving her Hogwarts letter? Harry could no longer think. It was too much to take in.

He ran out of the office and entered the office opposite him. There, Ron was sat ticking of boxes on pieces of parchment whilst Hermione was stacking leaflets. Harry slammed the letter on top of the piece of parchment in front of Ron, leaving him and Hermione bewildered.

'Read it!' exclaimed Harry and without a second thought, they both began to read. When he finished, harry jumped straight into explaining his thoughts.

'This is fantastic news, Harry. It really is. Write back to him.'

'Hermione, this is crazy-'

'Harry, it isn't. Just write back to him and arrange a day! It's not hard at all,' and she grabbed a plain piece of parchment and a quill, and handed it over to him, 'Write. This Saturday will do.'

With no choice, Harry began to write.

_Dudley,_

_That's great to hear. This Saturday evening will do. I'll pick you up from Kings Cross station at 5 O'clock._

_Harry._

'You can use a ministry owl to send the letter. Here, I'll go take it,' said Hermione, taking the letter from Harry and made her way out. Once the door shut, Ron began to shake his head.

'She's mental. She really is,' he mumbled.


	5. Chapter 5

- Chapter Five -

_Dudley's Visit_

Saturday arrived in a blink of an eye and Harry found himself pacing up and down the living room. Ron, Hermione and Ginny were sat on the sofa watching him.

'Harry, I think you and Ron should make your way to Kings Cross station. And Harry, you drive. I don't think it's a good idea if Ron does,' Ginny said in a demanding tone.

'I'm perfectly capable of driving, thanks,' said Ron, pretty annoyed.

'No, Ginny, just let him drive. I don't think I'll be able to concentrate,' interrupted Harry, breaking from his pacing.

'I really don't know why you're stressing so much. It's not a big deal, Harry!'

And at this, Harry left the room without another word, Ron behind him. They made their way outside to the car and both of them got in. Ron began to drive.

Godric's Hollow was quite empty as Ron drove up the road. The rows of houses were dimly lit in the evening's sky.

They reached Kings Cross station just as the sun completely set. Harry was lost in his own world to realise they had arrived. How can Ginny say it isn't a big deal when it clearly is? How can she say it isn't something worth stressing about? And how can Hermione think this is a good idea and is so simple? Does she not know how bad things could go? Maybe Ron was right after all. Maybe Harry should've just just ignored the letter and things would be okay. Then something hit him. Why _is _he so worried? It can't go that bad, can it? He'll just have to wait and see, he thought to himself.

Ron parked the car on an empty side road and they both got out, turning a corner. Facing them was Kings Cross station. They both crossed over and stood outside the main entrance. Harry turned around and there he saw him. A tall, large, muscular man with dirty-blond hair and a pale face which was slightly rosy. Walking beside him was a rather skinny woman who had dark hair which was tied back and had rather fair skin. She was dressed quite smart and walked elegantly. As Harry was observing them, Dudley caught sight of him and strolled towards him and Ron. Harry didn't think they would be able to recognise each other after all these years. Ron looked back at Harry, who gave a slow nod and they both made their way towards the pair. They all stopped when they were thirty centimetres apart and faced an odd moment of silence. Harry and Ron both let out a little gasp.

Cho Chang. The woman beside Dudley was Cho Chang.

Cho gave a both Harry and Ron a little smile. Dudley didn't seem to notice anything.

To Harry's surprise, he reached his hand out and Harry did the same and they both shook hands.


End file.
